


Of Coffee Shops and Compositions

by orphan_account



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Music, Musician Dan, coffee shop AU, pianist!Dan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-13 16:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11764206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Dan Howell, an aspiring pianist, currently working as a barista to pay rent.Phil Lester, works in the music shop and has just moved to London.When the two cross paths, the impact on each others life's is larger than they could imagine.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just really fluffy! I'll try and update around once a week or more regularly if I can but don't hold me to it!

Sitting at the piano, his fingers pressing down on the keys, made Dan feel more relaxed than anything else ever could. He always played when he was stressed, nervous, upset, or even just wanted to relax after a long day.

He could just close his eyes, feel the keys underneath his fingers, and listen to the music he was creating. He didn’t understand how people who didn’t play an instrument could cope with any kind of stress in their lives. He had gone away for a week once, and the first thing he did when he got back after unpacking was go straight to the piano he had missed so much.

He wished he was good enough to pursue the instrument professionally, but he knew that very few people ever reached that standard, even if they practiced for hours on end each day. So, he was stuck working in a coffee shop after having dropped out of law school two years previously. He liked his job, he was friends with some of his co-workers, but it wasn’t what he wanted to be doing with his life, it was just a way to earn the money he needed to pay for rent and food, as well as to fund his ever-growing collection of piano music.

He was sat now, at the piano once again, playing fur elise- a simple enough piece, but one he could play with emotion and passion, given that he knew the notes like the back of his hand. 

He played the last note, letting out a breath as he stood up from the piano stool, looking at the clock on top of the piano, he saw it was getting late, and decided he should probably go to bed, seeing as he had to be up early for his shift tomorrow.

 

Morning came all too soon after Dan had finally managed to quieten the inner workings of his brain enough to drift into the comfortable state of unconsciousness generally referred to as sleep by normal people. He stretched as he sat up, his room faintly lit by the sun poking round the edges of his blinds. 

He got showered and dressed before leaving for work. The one benefit of working in a coffee shop was that he didn’t have to worry about making time for breakfast before he left, he could just pick up something there. 

He walked down the street to the small shop. London, normally so crowded and bustling with people, was far quieter at this time in the morning. Dan knew all too well that the city was never silent, that there was always someone up, whether they be returning from a late night of partying, or- like him- on their way to an early morning job.

He arrived with time to spare, and grabbed a muffin and a large black coffee for himself, before grabbing his uniform apron, and getting to work setting up the shop before it opened. He went into the kitchen to start preparing some cakes for the day, most of them had already been prepared by the girl who worked for the shop as a chef, but he decided to give her a hand, seeing as he still almost an hour until they opened up in the morning.

 

By the time Dan walked out behind the counter to flip the sign on the door to open, the sun was up in the sky, it was seven o’clock, far earlier than Dan would normally be awake give the choice, and he had already been awake for almost three hours. He hated doing opening shifts, but someone had to, and given the small number of employees at the shop, he saw it as only fair to take his turn. 

The shop opened early, but that was necessary for a small independent business like it to stay opening whilst brands like costa and starbucks grew bigger by the week. 

Because the coffee shop was independent, the customers they got were a strange, eclectic mix. Most of them pretentious hipsters who deemed themselves too good to drink coffee from corporate chains. Dan personally had nothing against places like starbucks, but this place did pay him better, and it had its own unique feel to it, that chains tended to lack. 

The shop was very cosy, mismatched armchairs with low tables, alongside the more regular looking tables for people with food. It had fairy lights on the walls, along with art from artists in the area, many of them regular customers at the shop. There was a small bell over the door to alert him to people coming in. 

He straightened up as someone walked in, a girl with multicoloured hair and unreasonably large glasses that took up half her face, despite her strange style, Dan knew she worked in a nine to five office job, which she went to after coming in for coffee every morning.  _ Just goes to show,  _ he thought with a smile as she ordered whilst going through emails on her phone,  _ people aren’t always what you make of them. _

 

Later that afternoon, Dan walked out of the shop door, bell ringing behind him as he left. It was only two o’clock so he still had the entire afternoon left, one of the few perks of working from six till two. He picked up lunch, and found himself heading towards the music shop several streets away from his apartment. It was a small place, selling CDs and records as well as the sheet music which was the reason why he frequented the store, but they always had something he liked the look of, even if it wasn’t what he had been looking for in the first place.

He walked into the shop, marvelling as he always did at the walls full of CD cases and bookshelves full of sheet music. He was pretty sure they never had more than one copy of anything, which made for a large selection even though the shop itself was certainly not large.

He stood by the piano music, leafing through sheets that he already owned, trying to find something he hadn’t played before, and wasn’t too difficult. 

He was so absorbed in trying to find the perfect piece, that he didn’t notice the man standing next to him until he cleared his throat, making Dan jump a little. 

‘Is there anything I can help you with?’ he asked, his voice had an accent from somewhere other than London, but Dan couldn’t quite place it. ‘Are you looking for anything in particular, or just browsing?’

‘Browsing I guess,’ he looked up at the man, who was almost as tall as he was, with black hair and bright blue eyes, he had never seen him before, which was strange, as he knew almost every employee in the store (which wasn’t saying much as they normally had only two or three people employed at any one time given the size of the shop). ‘Are you new here? I haven’t seen you before?’ he said, voicing his thoughts.

‘Yep, moved here about a week ago, but I only started working here yesterday, do you come in here a lot then?’ he asked Dan, who had now found a piece he was interested in and was flipping through it.

‘Far more than I should on my pay check!’ he laughed, as he walked towards the counter with the music. ‘I play the piano, I’d love to do it for a job, but unfortunately I’m stuck in a coffee shop for the time being.’

‘That’ll be five pounds please,’ Phil said, scanning the music, ‘Where’s the coffee shop? I should pay it a visit. I’m not a massive coffee drinker myself, but I can appreciate a nice mocha.’

‘It’s about three streets from here, it’s called ‘willow tree coffee’.’ He said, handing over a fiver. ‘Just put it into google maps if you can’t find it.’

Phil laughed at that, assuring Dan that he would check it out the next day, and with that Dan left the shop and started on his way home to try out the new music he had bought.

 


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating a bit earlier than planned, hope you like this chapter!

Phil woke up late the next morning, he had a day off, so he stayed in bed for far longer than he would usually have time for on a work day. He had a few tasks he needed to do, but apart from that his day was pretty much a blank slate. He got out of bed, it was nine o’clock, later than he got up normally, but earlier than many people got up when they had a chance to lie in. He guessed he was kind of a morning person, though he often stayed up late as well.

He got dressed, made his hair presentable, and watered the plants in his room- of which he had far too many- before making his way to the door of his apartment. He had been going to make himself some breakfast, when he remembered the man in the shop yesterday, the one who worked at the cafe. 

He didn’t even get his name. 

The cafe was easy enough to find without having to resort to google maps, and he smiled as he came across it. Tucked into a small side street, you probably wouldn’t know it was there unless you knew what you were looking for, it was small and seemed cosy, perfect for a late breakfast. 

He had taken his computer with him, hoping to get some work done, not that there was much to do for the shop, but he did have several thousand emails that he really ought to open at some point, although he guessed most were spam.

The bell over the door chimed as he opened it, announcing his arrival to the man behind the counter. As he looked up from what he was doing, Phil noticed it was the guy from yesterday,  _ Dan,  _ he noticed the man’s nametag. It was Dan from the shop yesterday.

‘You came!’ he said with a smile, like he hadn’t been expecting Phil to actually visit the cafe.

‘Yep,’ he said, returning Dan’s grin. ‘Can I get a mocha and a banana muffin please?’

‘To sit in or take away?’ he asked, going over to the cups at the back to start preparing Phil’s drink.

‘Sit in,’ he said, ‘maybe if you’ve got some time you could join me? Seeing as there’s literally no queue.’

He paused, had that been too upfront, should he not have said that? ‘O-of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to,’ he hurriedly amended, ‘don’t feel like you need to.’

‘No, it’s quite alright,’ Dan said, smiling, ‘I’d like to get to know you, but I don’t even know your name.’

‘Phil. Lester. Phil Lester, that’s my name I mean.’  _ God why can’t I seem to string together a sentence.  _

‘Okay Phil Lester,’ Dan said, ‘if you want to take a seat, then I’ll be over in a minute or two with a mocha and a muffin.’

He found a table for two beside a window, and sat down, hanging his coat over the back of his chair. This was all so strange, he had only met this guy yesterday and now they were chatting over coffee, was this how normal people made friends?

He was so lost in his own trail of thought, that he barely noticed Dan setting down the mug in front of him. The mocha was topped with whipped cream and marshmallows, an extra that he should’ve been charged for, and the banana muffin looked delicious. 

‘Thank you,’ he said to Dan, taking a sip of the drink and almost burning his tongue. 

‘I’d wait a minute or two to start that if I were you,’ Dan said with a small laugh, ‘God knows I’ve done that enough myself, you think I’d know better working in a damn coffee shop!’

Phil laughed along with him at that, before starting on the muffin. ‘This is incredible, did you make this?’ 

‘No, we have a chef who makes all our cakes and other food, I help sometimes though.’

‘Well please be sure to tell them that they make the best muffins I’ve ever tasted,’ he said through a mouthful of the aforementioned cake.’

‘I’ll be sure to pass it on,’ he said with a smile.

Phil was reduced to staring in awe, he felt a bit strange watching, but Dan’s smile was quite honestly one of the prettiest things he’d ever seen. 

‘Phil?’ Dan said, waving his hand in front of Phil’s face. 

‘Huh,’ he looked up to see Dan smirking at him, something possibly even better than his smile. 

‘You’re staring,’ he said, making Phil blush when he realised Dan had noticed. 

‘I-I’m sorry,’ he mumbled, he had blown it. There was no way Dan would want to be friends now, he was just a creepy guy who couldn’t keep his eyes of Dan for a second.

‘Hey, it’s alright. I would stare if I was across from someone looking like this,’ he gestured to his face, which made Phil laugh a little.

Just then the door opened, and a girl walked through the door.

‘One sec, I need to get this.’ Dan said, making his way back to the counter to take her order. 

Phil took a sip of his mocha, which had cooled down significantly by now, and was almost the perfect temperature. The drink was incredible, and was made even better by the whipped cream, which he appreciated Dan adding. 

When he looked over to the counter, Dan was laughing at him, and he realised he had cream on his face. Reaching up, he wiped it off, slightly embarrassed, but happy to see that smile again.

Once he finished his drink, he got his computer out and set to work on the emails. 

Maybe Dan thought he was doing something important, or maybe the café was just busy, but he didn’t come over again, until Phil was putting his laptop away, ready to return to his apartment. 

‘Thanks for stopping by today,’ Dan said, as he took Phil’s empty cup and plate from the table. ‘Maybe you could come back tomorrow if you’re free?’ he asked with a hopeful smile.

‘Of course,’ Phil said, as he put on his coat, ‘I’ll see you then.’

‘See you,’ Dan echoed as Phil walked to the shop door, and left, with the sound of the bell ringing behind him.


	3. chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is so late! I've been writing some Book of Mormon stuff in the meantime though, so if you're interested in that then check it out!

**Warning** \- some depressing thoughts, not many, just thought I should mention it to be safe (if anyone needs a chapter summary if they don't want to read this just say and I'll leave one)

As Phil walked out the door, Dan watched him leave, the bell on the door ringing behind him as he left. He went back behind the counter to start working again, but he was distracted the whole afternoon. He hoped he hadn’t been too forward about asking to see Phil again the next day, he hadn’t really given him any room to deny the offer. The fact was, he just wanted to see the other man again, their conversation earlier didn’t make it feel like they had only known each other for a matter of days, talking to Phil felt like talking to someone he had known his whole life. And of course, it helped that Phil was one of the sweetest people he’d ever met.

He wondered if it was a date, they had only been talking over coffee, but did that qualify or not? He didn’t even know if Phil was gay, and would hate to have the wrong idea of where this was going. He couldn’t help but feel he was rushing the whole thing, he had only met the guy yesterday and he was already concerned about if he liked him romantically. He needed to just take a breath, and slow down, overthinking was a bad habit of his, one that he really ought to stop doing, it just stressed him out.

He finished up his shift at the café, before heading home to his flat. He was tempted to make a detour to the music shop on the way, but he decided against it. That might be a little too forward of him. And almost stalker-ish.  

He made himself a quick meal when he returned- after working in a café all day, he had little desire to spend much time in the kitchen- and settled down with his computer. He had all evening just to relax, as he had a later shift the next day and wouldn’t have to be awake until after nine in the morning. He pulled up Facebook and Twitter, checking what had happened that day. He had moved on to scrolling aimlessly through his Tumblr feed, when a notification popped up on his screen:

 **_Facebook:_ ** _(1) New Friend Request: Phil Lester_

He clicked on the notification, which took him to the profile, who sure enough, was Phil from the music shop, Phil who he had met at the café today. He clicked accept, before starting to scroll through Phil’s timeline. He didn’t post much, though he did find photos from a pride parade six months ago, which combined with his relationship status on his profile listed as single, made Dan smile. Maybe, just maybe, he actually had a chance with him.

He found a link to Phil’s Instagram, which he clicked, though the account was on private, and he would have to wait for him to accept his follow request. Perhaps that was for the best however, he knew how easy it would be to fall down that rabbit hole, scrolling further and further back through his photos. He could leave that for tomorrow.

It was late when he went to bed, though not as late as he would’ve stayed up had he not had to work tomorrow. Though it was dark outside, the city he could see out of his window was still illuminated. It was never truly dark, not here.

And when he climbed into bed, and shut his eyes, he couldn’t find sleep. For it seemed lonely, in this bed-which was not designed for one person, without someone to hold. And with that he started to cry. This was not an uncommon practice of his, night-time made him more emotional, and looking out to the city surrounding would never fail to make him realise how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of things. That was one thing about living in a big city he still hadn’t got used to since he moved, everyone had their own lives, everyone had their own dreams and fears, and everyone mattered to people. And then there was him. He wasn’t good enough to pursue his dreams, his fears were that of death and destruction, something that would happen to everyone eventually and were unavoidable, and then there were the people.

He hadn’t spoken to his family in far too long, he hadn’t meant for it to happen, it just had done, as was the way of the world. He had no friends, not even his co-workers, and all his hopes were pinned on a man he had met twice. He barely knew Phil Lester yet he hoped he could make a difference. Or maybe he was being ridiculous and this was all just wishful guessing.

 

He woke up the next morning exhausted. He had been up far later than he had anticipated the previous night, contemplating death and what his life had become, so far from what he had hoped for. He got dressed and went to work, another day doing something that paid the bills. He didn’t get to do what he loved, and instead had to serve coffee to pretentious hipsters in a small café. This wasn’t what he had envisioned when teachers asked him what he wanted to be when he had been at school. This was so, so far from it. So far from the wife and two kids, the music degree and a career as a pianist, so far from someone who had their life sorted out, or even their own mind. How had he come to this?

He worked all day in relative silence, talking only when he was required to. His co-workers could see there was something up, but they left him alone, knowing talking to him would only annoy him when he was like this. His one hope for the day, Phil Lester, never showed up. He would glance at the door any time someone would come in, but it was never him. He knew his hopes had been stupid, he knew he wasn’t going to be anything to Dan, wouldn’t be a boyfriend, or even an acquaintance. He didn’t know why he had pinned all his hoped on one person, and one he barely even knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought of this kinda depressing chapter

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment, let me know what parts you liked as well as how I can improve my writing. I've written other phanfics as well as works for other fandoms if you want to check that out


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